Fresh Baked Bread

There is something really relaxing about fresh bread baking in the oven. My boys and husband literally salivate when there are loaves cooking. They hang around the kitchen and wait for the loaves to come hot out of the oven so they can fight over huge pieces with butter. I am partial to white bread and my boys love cinnamon. Every now and again I venture out of my comfort zone with artisan breads with olives, pestos and sundried tomatoes as main ingredients but they never seem to go over as well as the standars white loaf. We dip the bread in soups, chilies and stews. And for special weekend treats I make a batch of cinnamon apple butter to top the bread. I have (and will be) making many loaves of this bread in the future. This recipe makes two loaves.

Fresh Baked White Bread

2 packages active dry yeast

2 cups warm water

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup vegetable oil

6- 6 1/2 cups flour

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast into the warm water. Add sugar, salt, eggs, oil and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured wirk surface and knead until elastic and smooth, about 6-8 minutes. Place into greased bowl, making dure that you turn the dough to cover the top. Cover and let rise for one hour (should double in size) and punch down the dough. Divide the dough into two loaves and place in 2 bread pans. Cover and let it rise again for one hour. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
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How to Make Yogurt

So I found this amazing yogurt tutorial on Pinterest a few weeks ago. Over the past few days I have come to the realization that I have to cut down on all budgets big time, I figured I'd start with groceries. So after getting my coupon on, I thought I'd try to make my own yogurt. It actually worked out pretty well and I'm psyched to save money and to make delicious yogurt. Wanna make your own? Here's the super easy way to get your cooking goddess on! What You Need: A gallon of milk, glass jars, 6 oz of good quality yogurt, thermometer and cooler. Pour your milk in a large stockpot (I used a gallon of 2% and it made alot). Warm up your milk, I put it on 7 and let it slowly heat up to 190. Wisk it but don't let it boil since 190 is scalding the milk.

When its at 190 turn it down and maintain this temp for 10 minutes. Afterwards let the milk cool to 120. Let it sit on the stove or put it in a sink of cold water (much quicker). Add your starter yogurt and whatever flavors you want. I added 2 tsp of vanilla and 3/4 cup of sugar. In the future you can use your own yogurt to start, but first batch needs 6 oz of quality stuff. Pour the mix into glass jars and scoop off the frothy layer. Despite this looking like bootlegging, it works. Pour 120 degrees water (enough to cover jars to below the lids) in the cooler. Let the jars sit for 4 hours and move to the fridge. Do not open the jars, it lasts a lot longer if you resist temptation. Keep the yogurt in the fridge overnight then bust them out and enjoy! Add maple syrup, honey, ect.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I made these little yummies for our family dinner party tonight. It is actually a sweet bread recipe but instead of baking them in bread pans I baked them in muffin pans and a bundt pan. So they are more cakey than muffiny. They are packed full of flavor and are so yummy with cheese cream. My oldest likes pumpkin apple butter on his. Very easy to whip up for friends and neighbors, and it makes the house smell so good! Don't you just love the cooler weather!

Pumpkin Spice Bread (Muffins)

2 cups canned pumpkin

3 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Heat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, water, vegetable oil and eggs. Beat until well mixed. Measure the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and cloves into a separate bowl and stir until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, beating until smooth. Grease two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans and dust with flour. Evenly divide the batter between the two pans. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10-15 minutes, then remove from pans by inverting onto a rack and tapping the bottoms. Slice and serve plain, buttered, or with cheese cream, and if you follow a good weight loss diet plan you don't need to be concerned to much because you can eat one or two muffins a day with no problem!